Nubia Flip 5G review: The most affordable flip phone you can get in Singapore right now

Flip and folding phones have improved greatly over the years, but the price point is still a major deterrent.

Most options in Singapore are priced around S$1,500, with the OPPO Flip N3 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 coming in a few dollars under that. The Tecno Phantom V Flip is a more affordable option, but it's not officially available in Singapore, so let's not count that in.

So, it's safe to say that the Nubia Flip 5G is probably the cheapest folding smartphone available at the moment. 

Starting at US$499 (~S$675), the Nubia Flip 5G has some nice hardware, including a large 6.9-inch internal OLED display that supports up to 120Hz refresh rate and a decently sized 4,310mAh battery. To help keep the price low, the phone also focussed on what's primarily important to keep it lean.

The TL;DR verdict:

The Nubia Flip 5G can be an introduction to foldable phones but know that it's not at the peak of its form factor, given its attractive price point.



The Nubia Flip 5G starts at US$499 (~S$675) for the 8GB+256GB model and is available at Nubia's global store.

It offers a 50MP primary camera and a 2MP depth lens on the rear. The phone runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, a comparatively old midrange processor (we're at Gen 3 now). 

There are two options to choose from: an 8GB+256GB (RAM+storage) model and a 12GB+512GB model, with both versions being available on Nubia's global store that serves the Singapore market.

So, is it possible to get an excellent folding smartphone at such an affordable price? Let's find out.

Nubia nailed down the Flip 5G's core design. Our Sunshine Golden colour option is stunning. Even though it seems more beige than gold with a feminine finish, Nubia has brought out the etched texture of its Starlight AG glass.

This coating holds up well against fingerprint smudges, with none showing visibly. The matte finish rolls down the phone's sides, with Nubia using a zircon sand sandblasted finish along the aluminium alloy sides and buttons.

The sides are flat, and they are aesthetically and functionally pleasing enough that the phone feels secure when held in one hand.

The power button comes in a lovely red accent that gives a pop of colour to the otherwise monotone palette. This red power button is also on the Cosmic Black option, which looks sleek and helps accentuate its darker aesthetic. 

The inside screen measures 6.9 inches across, which is a tad larger than the 6.8-inch and 6.7-inch screens on other flip phones. That said, the 21:9 aspect ratio makes the Nubia Flip 5G feel a little like an older Xperia phone, offering wider viewing experiences when browsing the web. The big downside is that you get thick black bars when you experience 16:9 formatted content, which is what you'll get across your favourite video streaming platforms.

Although Nubia claims a 1,100-nits peak HBM brightness for the internal screen, we think it performs alright. It's still legible under bright sunlight but not quite as bright as some of the phones we've seen lately, with 1,600-nits max brightness. There is 2,160Hz PWM dimming to help with eye strain, and in the settings menu, the refresh rate can be set to 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, or auto, which automatically selects the best refresh rate based on the content viewed.

You don't get the luxury of 1Hz or even 10Hz refresh rates for better battery efficiency, but at least there's a high refresh rate option to maximise your content experience. Don't forget to go into settings and change it to Auto if you want automatic switching since it defaults to 60Hz.

Thick bezels seem to be standard with clamshell flip phones, so we won't fault Nubia for sporting them on the Flip 5G. However, it would be nice to see slimmer bezels on the next generation of such handsets.

Nubia has done about as well as Tecno at keeping the crease under control. It's not as good as the effort in flagship foldable rivals, but it's not too visible either. The crease is almost invisible when you're viewing the screen head-on. If you're viewing the screen at a bit of an angle, however, the crease shows up prominently. 

Unfortunately, when running your finger over the middle of the phone, you can feel a rather obvious depression, which does affect your user experience when scrolling through websites or editing photos. 

Nubia claims the phone's hinge and display have been tested to withstand up to 200,000+ folds, which matches Tecno and Samsung's claims, although it falls short of OPPO's claim of 600,000+ folds.

Another slight quibble about the hinge is that it doesn't feel as smooth and refined when folding compared to the OPPO Find N3 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5.

Thankfully, when folded up, there's no unbalanced gap between the two halves of the screen. Meanwhile, the hinge is also low profile and precisely matches the phone's design, from colour to finish. 

The external screen has a clean finish and no sharp edges that snag onto clothing or fabric. Plus, it doesn't protrude too much from the back of the phone. Its 1.43-inch touchscreen display does require slightly more than half a second to wake from sleep, although it's responsive enough once the screen is turned on. 

However, only eight functions are available from the external screen, which can be rather limiting for those expecting the same range of functionality that's possible on the OPPO Find N3 Flip or the same real estate offered on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5.

Of course, you also get the regular stuff like message notification previews and the ability to call back if you miss incoming calls.

Those eight functions are rather generic: a camera function, a music player, weather, a calendar widget that only shows the days of the current month, another calendar widget that shows the events you have for that day, a pedometer widget, a timer widget, and a voice recorder widget. 

They are practical, but I'd also want to use my external screen for other apps like Grab to check my driver's ETA.

Instead, Nubia offers the option for "pet" wallpapers, where you can have an animated dog, cat, bird, fish, etc., on your external screen. It's cute, but I reckon many of us would rather have more functionality than a pretty wallpaper. I might feel differently if the "pet" was like a Tamagotchi that could interact with me, but I digress. 

One plus point I have to give the external screen is that auto-rotate can be turned on, meaning that you can use the external screen in two different orientations, whether the hinge is facing downwards or upwards. While it's not a significant advantage, we appreciate this QOL (quality-of-life) feature since you don't have to ensure your phone is in the proper orientation to use the external screen. It'll work just fine, even if it's upside down. 

Decent OS, but nothing fantastic

The Nubia Flip 5G runs on Nubia's MyOS 13, the company's skin of Android 13. It's a bit outdated, and it would be nice to see Nubia push out a software update soon for Android 14, at the very least.

There aren't many flip-specific functions, although the split-screen function works nicely. If you open the camera app while the screen is half-folded, you get the preview only on the top half. 

Aside from that, the OS is decently fluid and offers plenty of customisation options. You can choose between faster and slower animations, the shape of your icons, bubbles, and colour schemes, and more. It's a passable OS, but there's nothing that really makes one go "wow." 

There's a little bloatware, with TikTok, WPS Office, Booking.com and three games (Asphalt Nitro 2, Puzzle Pets and MC: Rebel Guns, if you must know) being installed out of the box, but that's minor in comparison to some other phones that continually download unwanted games or apps. You will notice the "Hot Apps" and "Hot Games" folders, but thankfully, the apps inside are just suggestions and aren't automatically downloaded. 

Nubia has opted to forego water resistance rating and guarantees on software and security updates the phone will receive, ostensibly in a bid to keep prices lower. Therefore, take extra care when using your phone around bodies of water or under the rain.

Nubia's spec sheet is pretty light on details for the dual cameras. All we know is that the circular camera bump on the back has two lenses: one 50MP (f/1.8 aperture) main camera and a 2MP depth lens for portraits. Nubia also confirmed that the phone is using a Samsung ISOCELL JN1 sensor, which was also found on the OnePlus 10 Pro and Nothing Phone (2a).

There's also a punchhole 16MP camera on the main display inside, but you would probably get better results if you closed the phone and took a selfie with the 50MP rear camera instead. The ability to see a preview of the photo on the external screen is most likely one of the biggest selling points of getting a flip phone, so you might as well make full use of it.

If you take a selfie in Portrait mode, you get access to the beautifying feature, which can be quite aggressive at the highest level (think enlarged eyes, removed blemishes, and poreless skin). If you must have beautifying turned on, setting it at level 2 or 3 is comfortable without going too overboard. 

There's also a Smart AI feature that didn't seem to do much besides boosting the saturation a little, so I usually just kept it on. However, with or without Smart AI's saturation boost, photos out of the Nubia Flip 5G still looked overly saturated.

The lack of a dedicated telephoto lens posed a bit of an issue when travelling, as I could not get close to subjects like deer. Despite that, however, I found that the 2x crop offered by the Nubia Flip 5G was passable. It did seem like the phone overcompensates occasionally for images taken in 2x, brightening them and reducing the shadows, producing a flatter, slightly washed-out image. I'd recommend using 1x wherever possible and then cropping afterwards to try and retain a nicer image. 

Night mode works quite well at brightening images and balancing out extreme exposures on both ends. That said, you'll still get perfectly serviceable photos in low light conditions even if you forget to turn it on. However, Nubia Flip 5G's colour accuracy isn't always great in night mode. For example, the blue background on this anime mural leaned towards purple hues once Night Mode was at play.

If you want full 50MP photos, they're hidden under the Camera-Family tab, with the Full-Size option being what you'll have to select. It's a bit tough to find, but most people don't require 50MP images, so I won't consider this a major issue. 

The photos from the Nubia Flip 5G are generally vibrant and capable of detail, although they aren't all that accurate due to the saturation bump. If you want to post these to social media, you may want to colour-correct your shots first.

Benchmark Performance

The Nubia Flip 5G uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 as mentioned before, which was announced two years ago in 2022. Since the chip is slightly older, it’s only natural that the performance isn’t quite on par with newer options.

We’ve chosen to compare the Flip 5G against other flip phones, and we’ve also included older models like the OPPO Find N2 Flip and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4.

Putting it to the test

To find out how the competitors line up specs and price-wise, check them out in this link.

To find out more about the tests we conduct and what they relate to, we've jotted them down here.

Benchmark Performance remarks

The older processor shows its age in synthetic benchmarks, but there’s not as much of a difference as initially anticipated. The Nubia Flip 5G does well for what it is, especially if compared to a more reasonable competitor like the Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G. 

In regular use, the phone worked perfectly fine when browsing the web or playing games on less intensive visual settings (read: don’t turn on super HD visual options in games or expect 60fps), despite the older LPDDR4X RAM used. The only time I noticed some lag was when I had a bunch of apps open while playing a game.

Battery Life

Our battery benchmark uses PCMark for Android’s Work 3.0 Battery Life test to determine a modern Android-based smartphone's battery uptime in minutes. This controlled benchmark simulates real-world usage with a combination of both web and social media browsing, video and photo editing, parsing data with various file formats, writing (on documents), and more. 

The 4,310mAh battery inside is larger than quite a few other flip phone competitors, and Nubia seems to have capitalised on it somewhat. We found the phone lasted about 12.5 hours in the test. That’s a very decent showing from a flip phone and miles ahead of the Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G.

With support for 33W wired fast charging, the Nubia Flip 5G charged from 0% to 50% in just 23 minutes, which is super quick. Charging speeds took a dip after that, with a full charge from 0% to 100%, taking 2.5 hours in total.

Unfortunately, there’s no wireless charging on this phone, but we’re perfectly happy to overlook it for a flip phone at this price point.

Conclusion

The Nubia Flip 5G has left us rather divided. On one hand, it’s incredible to see a folding smartphone offered at this incredibly affordable price. However, the brand kept the features and prowess so lean, to a point that the Nubia Flip 5G feels more like a regular phone that can fold in half. It's a flip phone, no doubt, but it lacks crucial, high-performing features to let the user fully take advantage of the external screen.

Sure, there are some widgets for the external screen, but this level of polish and functionality feels naked next to rivals who have been aggressively exploring use cases for flip phones. If the Nubia Flip 5G had come out before 2021, it might be a little easier to accept the experience. The likes of the OPPO Find N3 Flip and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 available today make the Nubia Flip 5G feel a little primitive in comparison.

If you want a phone that can fold down to half its size in your pocket and you don’t need fancy features like selfie assistance, watching a video, or replying to messages on the external screen, the Nubia Flip 5G comes in strong with a significantly lower price tag of ~S$675.

The Nubia Flip 5G retails for US$499 (~S$675) for the 8GB+256GB model or US$699 (~S$946) for the 12GB+512GB model and is available at Nubia’s global store.